PLATE 



GENUS SARCHIOPHORUS (Strickland). 



THE single species comprising this genus is peculiar to x^ustralia, and is nearly allied to the 

 Lobivanell i. 



SAECHIOPHOKUS PECTORALIS (Gould). 



BLACK-BREASTED PLOVER. Genus: Sarchiophorus. 



THE Black-breasted Plover is found to inhabit the eastern, southern, and south-western portions of 

 the Continent, but has not yet been seen in the northern or western colonies. It shows a 

 predilection for open sterile downs lightly covered with grass or vegetation, and for grassy flats near 

 rivers. It is of a tame disposition, and will allow a very near approach before taking alarm. It has 

 a tripping movement over the ground, and when flushed, flies off in a straight line and does not 

 seem to indulge in those airy evolutions and gyrations characteristic of the Lapwings ; neither does it 

 associate in flocks, but is content to go in pairs, or, at most, threes. 



From the fact that a nearly full-grown young one has been obtained in November, we may 

 assume that breeding takes place early in the season. The number of eggs laid at a time exceeds the 

 generality of Plovers' clutches, being from three to four. They are deposited on the bare 

 ground, with no attempt at nest-building. In colour they are a light olive-grey, very thickly blotched 

 and stained with brown, almost covering the surface, especially at the larger end. Length, 1 inch 9 

 lines ; breadth, 1 inch 3 lines. (./. A. Campbell). 



The sexes are alike, except that the lobe before the eye is much smaller in the female than 

 in the male. 



Crown of the head, line running from the angle of the mouth, beneath the eye, and down 

 the sides of the neck, and a broad crescent-shaped band across the breast, jet black ; stripe from the 

 eye to the back of the neck ; chin, throat, chest, flanks, abdomen, upper and under tail-coverts, 

 white ; back, ash-brown ; primaries, brownish-black ; wing-coverts, bronzy -brown, darkening with 

 black at the tip of each feather, and tipped with white ; some of the outer secondaries, white, 

 margined on their outer webs with black, then a few entirely white, and the last two marked like 

 the coverts, but largely margined with white ; seapularies and lower part of the back, bronzy-brown ; 

 rump, dark olive, with bronze reflections ; tail, white, crossed by an irregular broad band of black 

 near the tip ; tip of upper mandible, horn-colour ; the rest of bill, primrose-yellow ; naked parts of 

 the thighs and knees, dark pink ; tarsi and toes, blackish-brown, the latter inclining to pink-red ; 

 irides, yellow, surrounded by a rim of deep primrose, extending in an oblique direction to the fleshy 

 protuberance at the base of the upper mandible, which is blood-red in the male, flesh-red in the 

 female. {Gould). 



The chick is covered on the upper surfaces with mottled yellow and brown down ; beneath, 

 fluffy yellow ; legs, horn-colour. 



Habitats : Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence River 

 Districts, New South Wales, Interior, Victoria and South Australia, West and South-west Australia. 

 ( Ramsay ). 



